By LYNETTE SOWELL
Cove Leader-Press
It’s official: Copperas Cove will be the site of a new VA outpatient clinic that could be open and welcoming patients by late 2029.
The announcement that Copperas Cove was selected for the clinic site was made Friday morning by Congressman John Carter, who held a news conference at Central Texas College.
The 190,000-square-foot facility will bring about 500 jobs to the area.
According to information provided by Rep. Carter’s office, construction is expected to be completed by the second quarter of fiscal year 2029, and the VA anticipates welcoming patients by the 4th quarter of fiscal year 2029.
The clinic will be built on an approximately 22-acre parcel of land located in The Narrows Business & Technology Park, said Fred Welch, Executive Director of the Copperas Cove Economic Development Corporation.
“We are honored to have been selected for this project. The real beneficiaries here are the thousands of veterans and families that will be served from this facility,” Welch added.
With the prospect of more than 500 positions to fill, Welch shared what the EDC will be doing to bolster the local hiring pool.
“We then will be coordinating with the state and our regional training partners to secure any training assistance that will assist the ISDs, community college and upper level schools in training and upskilling the 500 employees that will work at the facility,” Welch said.
There has been work by the CCEDC over the past few years to prepare the way for the clinic coming to the city, with both the cities of Copperas Cove and Killeen looked at as possible sites for the facility.
“We have spent a great deal of time over the past three years working with the VA construction team, our state and elected officials in Austin and Washington D.C. to address development questions and assure funding remained in the budget at the Federal level to support this project,” Welch said. “Big kudos to Judge Carter, Rep Pfluger and their staff members in the District and Washington D.C. along with the big boost from the Senate (Senators Cornyn and Cruz) who moved last summer to approve the authorization for this project on the Senate side.”
A groundbreaking date has not yet been announced for the new facility.
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